Another Observation

The Australian "dialect" is quite interesting. Aussies sound a lot like Southies and other New England types, particularly with the elimination of r's. I get made fun of for pronouncing them. There is an interesting economy of speech; often syllabes are skipped - e.g., Canberra = CAN-bra. Nicknames are shortened to either -azzer or -o, such as Gazzer for Gary or Johnno for John or doco for document. One that I particularly find icky, for lack of a better adjective to describe how it makes me feel to read it in work emails, is spreadie (for spreadsheet). That word just gives me the heeby-jeebies, but I can't really explain why.

Contrary to what Americans see on TV or in Crocodile Dundee, g'day is said g'day, NOT g'die.